Nice,

I posted some links on my thread from ZoaID that may match my Palys. Let me know what you think.

I just figured out how to improve skimmer action on a Rapids Pro filtration unit. The difference is tremendous: Link to my post.

Very Nice Purple up!

Taggin along.

Milli is showing progress.

This milli is FINALLY showing some progress. You can see greater polyp extension at the lower right of the colony as well as a slight purple hue. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this color will spread throughout the entire coral. In the beginning (7mos ago?), I bought this as a wild colony but it was a very light purple, almost white in color. Ever since, I've held on to hopes that it would attain that color once again. Hopefully, it continues it's transformation. Notice the tips of my purple acro, which have become more purple then ever!

I am very excited for you! I am so glad everything is working out for the best so far. I really hope the improvements continue to your complete satisfaction! Keep us posted.

Thanks for the wonderful inspiration.

favorite tank ive ever seen on here

Wow. I can think of quite a few tanks here on NR that are my personal favs.
Glad you think the same of mine
Thanks for all of the encouragement guys.

>>>>>>>>>>
AT LAST.

WHEWEEEEE!@#! Came with a drinking water spout too! One less reason to leave the house.

Interesting, my TDS meter was pre-calibrated by the factory for most tap water applications. While running the RO/DI unit for a couple of hours, it read only 32ppm IN and 2ppm out. Would anyone be able to tell me if this is normal for pre-filtered tap? Either the factory calibration is incorrect or my tap water is exceptionally clean. I know our irrigation district gets much of it's water from the Sierras.

Hi purple up! I agree that your nano is one of the nicest is have seen so far

As for the TDS meter, not sure how to test if it's accurate. But i guess if you test it on distilled water, you would get zero reading and maybe you can try on mineral water as they state how much minerals on the botttle label and compare with your TDS meter reading.
But I'm not sure if it works.

Can't comment about the calibration or the results you're seeing, but a buddy of mine on the other side of town gets 20ppm out of the tap. Mine is the same I imagine, but I don't have TDS meter. Tap water with low TDS is certainly possible.

Thanks for the compliment, j'field. Yours ain't too shabby either! Seriously, you have a magnificent tank. I may try it on distilled to double check the results.

Thanks for the reply. Made me look up some official info from our water district. Says average TDS for El Dorado main water system is 35ppm. I suppose the end result is what matters most. I'm content with 2ppm. Still I can't believe I no longer have to haul jugs in and out of my SUV. More than that, I can't believe I spent the past year driving 25+ miles to the nearest LFS for water. Gas alone averaged $3.50/gal. Insane. I'm saving time, energy, and money.

Nice Water General setup.

Im fixen to have to replace some filters on my WG 5 Stage that I
removed the taste filter to make it a 4 stage

Ya it does amaze me at the ppl that go out and buy water or premade
Salt water. Ro/Di unit was the 1st thing I bought when I decided to start
reefing again after years of not having one.
You sure have good water to start out with...Mississippi water hmmmm
kinda like muddy water LOL. Tap water reads around 415 on TDS

Izzue

Looks like you're running out of tank space. When should we expect another Tank of the Year build?

Wow - you guys have some clean tap water! My well water in MD is around 250TDS! I run through a 4 stage RO/DI unit and can get it under 10 with a booster pump! I am switching to a Hi-S DI cartrigdge to see if I can get closer to 0.

The corals don't seem to mind whatever it is in the water that makes up the remaining TDS, so I am not real concerned. It is most likely nitrates and phosphates I bet from all of the lawn fertilizers. My filtration is designed to get rid of both so I am probably ok (deep sandbed, LR, phosban reactor, kalk dosing, fuge with macro, etc...

Looking good purple-up - and I think you will need a bigger tank soon

415!@#! You know, not too many miles from here, the LFS was saying it got 400+ readings on their tap, down to 32 running their DI unit, down to 3 running their RO/DI unit. Crazy how clean the tap is up here. I think I may have been better off running 30 TDS Sierra Mountain tap for the past year, since the DI water was what they were giving out for free! [For those of you unfamiliar with El Dorado Hills, CA it's located just 1 hour from Sierra-At-Tahoe ski resort.] Actually my unit is a 5-stage with a 6-stage taste filter on it too. I figure we might as well drink some of it, since it's good enough for the tank. hehe.

HA. Haven't you heard, we're in a RECESSION! Never had a tank of the year, but when finances permit I plan on a 260G 2-Way dream tank, utilizing solar power and direct sun tubes from the roof! I hope our economy recovers soon. I really want that tank. In the meantime, I'll revive one or two of my other nanos.brshriver, whatever is in your water seems to be bringing your corals good health. I hope they do just as well in mine. Yes, I've already made space for those killer montis.

Blueberry Experience
So my blueberry gorgonians have brought me much satisfaction. And it amazes me that they're apparently still happy. I'll miss them dearly when they're gone. Every day, as I've been told they can't survive in captivity, I check to see if they've begun to deteriorate. No sign of doom yet. Their polyps are extending further and opening more frequently throughout the day. I've even reduced direct feeding to DT's phytoplankton once a day and cyclops every other. That's it. However, I'm sure they benefit from leftover mysis shrimp by the fish. Here are 4 photos of frags that I've cut from the mother frag, which was already so small to begin with:









Even the smallest one that was left buried in the substrate is still alive and well. I super-glued it to a piece of rubble today. They all seem quite perky. Expect that I'll post progress (or regress) pics at least once a month. I'm a little concerned of how they might react to my new home-made water supply. We shall see.

Outstanding job Randy!

I was finally able to catch up on this thread. Congrats on putting together such a stunning system.

I hope to be setting up that Rapids Pro PS3 I told you about soon. I have gathered most of the plumbing and the 10 gal for the fuge. I still need to obtain the AFS ( ATO) system.

Happy to see you are still pleased with this system.

Thanks for the inspiration to continue with my own Rapids project.

Oh, BTW, I also have that same RO/DI system and I'm very pleased with it. 0 TDS
And the faucet for drinking water is a nice little extra feature.

I really hope you are able to keep those blueberry Gorgs happy, they really are beautiful.

Tagging along from here.

Those are outstanding! Hope you can keep 'em alive!!!!

Thanks!!I just sent you a pic of the tri-color. You can see the sunset creeping onto a new plug in the corner of the pic;)

try to supplement liquidlife coral food and reefroids as well for your blueberry

I looked em up. Liquid life has rotifers. TJ mentioned something about feeding some to my roscoe (i think). By a company named "Polyp Lab," reefroids looks like next gen coral food. I'll try em both. thanks for the advice.

Thanks man. Hope the Rapids Pro works for you. Ping me when you start to build it. If you're planning on keeping SPS, the AFS works great for dosing alkalinity - for me anyway. My evaporation rate is so high (up to 1 gallon per day) that mixing a precise amount of alkalinity buffer, maintains my dKH at a steady 9-10. It was nearly impossible for me to keep up with the tank's alkalinity consumption by dosing manually.

Thanks for the stunning pics of the stunning blueberry gorg! I've got my fingers crossed for its survival...

--Diane

Wow... speechless! All your corals are basically glowing! And that's a sweet shot on the ADA logo. You would make Amano proud. Just 1 request.... FTS! lol

Sorry to kill the suspense, but I've decided that the 1st post is the easiest place to show this tank's progress.


Very Nice Tank one the sharpest looking tank on NR

D'oh! Noobified! Thanks for the tip!

Tonga branches are always hard to scape, I'd say you did a great job!

Haha. The close-up on the ADA logo was unintentional. I'm really not a name brand kind of guy, but I gotta admit that these tanks are the highest quality I've seen. You can hardly tell that there's silicone holding it all together, since the lines are so thin. Yet, it holds incredibly strong. BTW: Your Singapore Green Tank is MINT.I'll do everything I can, Diane. Thanks for the encouragement.

PU...
Im not sure exactly how you fragged your blueberry...
watch for any death at the bottom where it is glued...
Way back I tryed a deep water yellow gorg...
No way to keep alive for long (5 months)...so I played with
fragging it...direct feeding in a separate bowl of water so I
didnt mess my water up to much. No luck.

But if you see any death on bottom...
Try this frag method...if you didnt.
Take frag and trim about 1/4 inch of the tissue from the inner
shaft...razor blade works...just be careful not to cut you or the
inner core. Drill hole about the same size as the trimmed...and deep
enough to insert the trimmed end without any of the tissue (untrimmed)
going in the hole. Place small amount of glue in hole to glue the shaft.
0.02
Izzue

+1. Thats the exact same way I have fragged plexaurellas in the past, and it works well. Of course, Plexaurellas are photosynthetic and thus much hardier in captivity, but gorgonians all have the same basic structure, so it should work fine.

I wish I had sought advice BEFORE I fragged mine with an Office Depot scissor! Following the same careless procedure as my LFS, when it sold me my frag. Curious to know if the mother colony at the LFS is still alive. Anyhow, I will definitely refer to these instructions if ever I need to frag it again. Thanks Izzue.

Mg: THE MISSING LINK

I've been anxiously awaiting this delivery from MarineDepot.com. Check out these BIG JUGS of alkalinity - 1000ml. $13.99 vs. $4.99 at PetsMart for only 250ml. By shopping exclusively online for supplies AND coral, I've reduced my trips to the LFS to only once every other month for frozen fish food and salt, due to higher shipping costs for frozen goods and heavier items.

Silly post, but I thought I'd help a fellow reefer save a buck or 2. Most importantly, I'm finally able to test my magnesium level. I've waited far too long already, thinking my new salt mix contains enough Mg without the need to dose. As I feared, my water contains only 1000ppm. From what I've read, I should maintain Mg between 1300-1500ppm for healthy SPS. Does this sound about right? It's surprising that my SPS have done well considering this deficiency. So I dosed 30grams to start.

Pink Palys. Monitoring how long it takes them to proliferate up the rock and potentially up the glass. I think I'll just let it do it's thing. If you compare pics from earlier postings, they are not so pink but rather brown. I take it as a good sign of improved water parameters.

Magnesium helps to keep CA and Alk from precipitating and helps you to maintain higher Alk and CA levels. You may get more white deposits on equipment with Mag that low. My salt mix, Reef Crystals, mixes up low so I am now boosting the new salt water when I mix it up. I think the batch I tested was ~1100 before boosting.

My mag dropped to 1000 about the same time that my Alk dropped to 7 or so and CA went up to 600. My SPS faded during that time. Now that everything is more balanced, the SPS colors are back. I don't know what exactly caused the fading SPS (especially orange monti digitata) though as I did everything I could read up on to improve my water quality when that happened so I don't know what actually turned the colors around. I think 1300~1350 is a good target. There are some great pinned articles on it at ReefCentral in the water chemistry forum.

If you dose kalk, it will deplete magnesium. I am adding mag chips to my CA reactor to try to get out of adding magnesium as I dos kalkwasser once a day. Time will tell.

You know i dose two part and they say that at the end of dosing both 1gal of cal and alk that i should dose the mg. But my Mg lvl stays up due to weekly water changes so I havent dosed any Mg yet.

With so many params to monitor/maintain, it's difficult to attribute success or failure on just one thing. And I certainly don't have the money or the time to set up experimental tanks to find out. I'll take your advice and trust that you've seen the consequences of low Mg. So I'll simply shoot to match the elements of Natural Sea Water. 1300 seems close enough. Plus, SPS20 agrees. hehe.

Note to self: check new salt batch for "default" Mg levels.

And nope, i don't dose kalk anymore, not after my calcium snowflake experience which caused a complete pump shutdown and white glass for days (probably due to low Mg). I believe my 25G is a little small for a CA reactor, but I've definitely explored it. For now, I'll settle for tedious manual dosing. BTW: Can anyone tell me if I can mix alkalinity buffer with magnesium supplement in my ATO? I'm already adding 200ml of SeaChem's alkalinity solution for every 5gallons in my ATO.



Interesting, I hoped my levels would be fine b/c I do the same - Weekly water changes. Plus, my Calcium supplement states that it "Maintains Magnesium and Strontium." Oh boy, should I also be testing for strontium!?!

Yes - check the MG levels of fresh salt. When I used Tropic Marine Pro reef I think it mixed up higher - in the 1300's.

I used the same calcium supplement that you did before the CA reactor. It has magnesium chloride in it but not enough to make up for the effects of the kalkwasser I guess. That is when I had my chemical imbalance. I bought the same gallon sized jugs from MarineDepot too The CA reactor saved me money since I was dosing 140 gallons of water. I still does my 20 and 46 with the seachem products though.

As for strontium, when I read the water chemistry forums on ReefCentral, I came to the conclusion not to worry about it - plus, the test kit for it contained some nasty chemicals with warnings everywhere!

As for the dosing ATO with alk buffer and MAG, I would guess yes, but I am not positve. You can post questions like this to the boys at wetwebmedia.com and they will answer it though - Steven Pro, Fenner, Calfo, etc... All the big names That would be worth a shot. They always answer questions. Their FAQ may already have the answer to boot if you search their site.

DTFlemming - what salt mix do you use?

I have been following this conversation about maintaining water chemistry parameters, and I thought I would share my very simple regimen. It works for me, but may not work for everyone. (Standard disclaimer) I apply this to my 20L, I should note, as this would get rather expensive for a larger tank.

I use Catalina water, which is basically mechanically filtered NSW. I think it may be carbon filtered too, i'm not sure, but the point is, it is natural sea water. I buy it at Petco. (I know, I know, I don't buy anything else there. They are the only place that carries it.) It comes in 5 gallon containers, that cost just under $10.00 each.

Every single week, I siphon 5 gallons of water out of the tank, and unceremoniously dump a container of Catalina water into the sump. I never miss a week, I made a pact with my corals to keep them happy in exchange for having had them ripped from the wild, and that means NEVER missing a water change. I don't match temperature, pH, or salinity, nor do I oxygenate the water at all. I dump it in. I have tested Catalina water in the past to make sure the Alk/Ca+ etc is correct, and it always comes out the same for me, so I stopped testing after a few months.

As for testing and supplementation: Every day I test Alkalinity with my API test. It is the easiest test in the world to administer, takes 15 seconds, and is a titration test, so there is no room for interpretation. I measure it in dKH, and aim for about 8-9 dKH. For each dKH point that the tank is when I measure it below 9, I add about 15 ml of both of the two components of Bionic. I do this because, in natural sea water with proper chemistry, Alk and Ca+ tend to move in a sort of lock step. They fall together, and rise together. Once a week, right after the water change, I test Ca+, and adjust it to 410-420 ppm (NSW concentration), and add one drop of lugol's iodine. I dose the iodine because I run a large bag of carbon and a protein skimmer, so I imagine iodine is pretty agressively removed from the system. I also adjust salinity manually using my refractometer and a bucket of RO/DI water. once weekly.

Once a month I test Nitrate and Phosphate. They have always given undetectable reading since about the second month, but I like to check every once in awhile. I do not test Mg, Sr, I, or pH in this tank. Just salinity, Alk, and Ca+.

As for top-off, I do so manually every day. I have a line drawn in magic marker on my sump where the water level should be, so I just dump some RO/DI water into the sump until it hits the line.

My tank seems happy. I think using NSW has alot to do with it, really. I love the stuff.

My point is, it isn't really neccessary to go too crazy with testing in a very small tank, as long as you are doing regular water changes with a source of water you know to be good, and a salt you know to be accurate to NSW levels. Water changes correct all sins of water chemistry, and in a small tank like mine, 5g a week means 25%. It is super easy to do, and eliminates so much hassle in trying to supplement everything.

Didn't know you used NSW. So that's the secret, huh? I've read that many people prefer NSW and use it long-term with much success. Why wouldn't it work? After all, we're all trying to recreate the ocean and what better than to put the ocean directly into your tank. Junkitu's tank is another prime example. He adds NSW weekly as well and it certainly shows. Unfortunately, I don't think it would work for me since I'm trying to minimize trips to the LFS and PetsMart. That was the primary reason I got the ok from the wifee to purchase the RO/DI unit. But it does make me think about my own practices. Maybe I can quickly summarize what I do and perhaps someone can help me figure out if something specific is impacting my parameters in a negative way (especially alkalinity):

• Every week, I change 5 gallons of siphoned tank water with 5 gallons of fresh RO/DI, carefully mixed with 2.5 cups of SeaChem's Reef Salt that has been oxygenated and heated for 24hrs. Salinity is adjusted to 1.025.5 before adding the new water to the sump. New salt mix levels using API test kits read 440 Ca, 9 Alk, Mg ? (TBD Elos Test Kit)
• dKH is tested multiple times throughout the day, due to high alkalinity consumption. In fact, every 4-5 days, my 4 gallon ATO reservoir is filled with fresh RO/DI water pre-mixed with 160ml of SeaChem's Carbonate Alkalinity. Note: The ATO must be refilled every 4-5 days due to rapid evaporation caused by intense lighting and flow. I've only been dosing my ATO directly for 2 weeks now, but it has limited my alk supplements to no more than 10-20ml every other day or as needed to achieve 9-10dKH. To put it simpler, the tank requires roughly 45ml of SeaChem's Reef Carbonate per day. Doesn't this seem like a whole lotta Alk for a 25G tank?
• Ca is tested at least once daily and maintains itself well with SeaChem's Reef Salt. Target ppm is 420-440. For calcium, I only need to add 20ml every other day.
• Water is randomly tested for nitrates and phosphates since they are most always undetectable. pH is one test I have difficulty reading since the purple colors on the chart are so hard to match (for me anyway). Plus, I've been told that I could skip the pH test and maintain it with a high dKH. However, I'm feeling that I should integrate a pH probe to assess if and how much it swings throughout the day. I JUST NEED TO KNOW.
• I add 1 drop of Lugol's iodine once every other week. Typically several days after a water change, since iodine is also present in the salt mix.
• Fresh carbon is replenished once per month, which runs in chamber 2 of my Rapids Pro sump, along with a bag of Purigen. Filter padding is also changed monthly.
• On top of all of this, I'm about to include magnesium in my list of things to monitor and maintain. It might take a couple of weeks to determine the tank's consumption rate before I add the proper dosage to my ATO - that is if I can mix it safely with Reef Carbonate (Alk).
• In case it's relevant, I feed mysis shrimp, cyclops, silversides, and DT's phytplankton SPARINGLY throughout the day.

Seeing that I keep a heavily stocked tank- and it's about to get heavier with SPS - can anybody tell me what is causing my alkalinity to deplete so damn fast? Is it the coral? If so, which one consumes it the most? Or can it be the high evaporation rate of the water? Will a top-off rate of .75 GPD cause the alkalinity to fall that fast? Does the evap rate have an impact on Mg?

^^^Any comments or suggestions as to how to limit or better control alkalinity consumption in my tank?

Otherwise, i suppose I'll continue this maintenance regimen moving forward, since I am very satisfied with my water quality overall...

Just to compare to my 28000 gal swimming pool...
Evap...and Heat (sun) is what burns up the alk in a pool...

So in your case I would say its a combo of Mh...evap...and a
tank full of coral

Sry I just told you nothin you didnt already know...LOL

My Nano use to eat x2 Alk compared to Ca.
Luckly In my 75 gal...Im getting away with 2 part solution (sponsor hear)
Im able to dose equal amounts...but it still takes alot.
App 70 ml...CA/Alk...am
App 70 ml...Ca/Alk....Pm
And Im keeping a good Kh and Ca around 410.

Izzue

PurpleUp,

First, from your FTS your corals look great and things are obviously going well, so don't do anything quickly!

As for NSW being the secret, I would say it is one of SPS20's secrets - and one that obviously works very well for SPS20!! but success can be had with RO/DI too. Of course after reading his routine, SPS20's real secret is that he is an incredibly diligent reefer and his tanks shines because of it!! Good work SPS20!

Now my .02 about your questions (warning - feedback may not be worth .02 )
Your alkalinity consumption seems high to me. I think raising your mag may solve that - warning raising mag takes time - weeks unless you overdose. I would take it slowly. Also make sure that your change water has 1300+ mag levels. Magnesium is what allows CA and Alk to exist in a supersaturated solution in seawater because of the bonds that it forms with CA and Alk in solution - at least that is my primitive understanding of it. Low mag may be causing Alk to precipitate out. Your Alk consumption should be balanced with your CA consumption - but balanced means in a set ratio and I am not sure what that ration should be.

A high bio-load can also cause Alk depletion and lower pH. So does heavy feeding. A high bio-load causes excessive creation of acids due to the acidic byproducts of the biological breakdown of wastes. You can mediate to some degree with kalk (which depletes mag ) , skimming, increased water changes, etc... As SPS20 says, water changes cover most sins I doubt this is your issue anyway.

If you start testing pH night and day, you will probably see .2 or so day/night swing in a small tank with lots of coral - which is no big deal. You can minimize this with a fuge with macro algae running on a reverse lighting scheme from the display. People run frag tanks on a reverse lighting cycle for the same reason. High alk will also help.

I think the low mag is causing your alk depletion - and it is easy/cheap/and safe to correct. High evaporation should not cause this in my opinion - but Izzue may be right. I thought the sun baked off the chlorine in my pool and that chlorine lowers the alk demand - but I am not sure. I would think that high evaporation would cause fluctuations through the day as levels should go up with evaporation. At any rate, your corals look colorful and happy, so I would only make changes slowly and see how they respond.

As brshriver said, RO/DI water and good salt mix works fine too. I stated it above, and will state again my standard disclaimer: what works for one may not work for all, but being extremely diligent about water changes works for absolutely everybody. (provided that there isn't anything wrong with the salt and source water you use)

As for alkalinity, perhaps it would be good to briefly remind ourselves that Alk is defined acid-neutralizing capacity, nothing more. The chemistry behind it can get a bit complicated, but basically that's all it is. There are alot of different ions that come into play, and I feel no shame in admitting that the whole thing perplexes me a bit, since there are so many different elements and compounds at play.

There have been various points in the life of every tank I have ever run where Alk seems to be depleted faster than Ca+, and others at which Ca+ demand outstrips Alk demand. I'm not sure why, but that's the way it is. I know that organic acids do deplete Alk to some extent, but I doubt that your issue is excessive bioload, or your corals would be not be looking so healthy, especially your SPS.

My (probably flawed) understanding of the role of Mg in reef aquaria is that Mg somehow helps prevent excessive precipitation of CaCO3 (which depletes both Ca+ and Alk), thus making it easier to keep up with both Ca+ and Alk demand. Also, Mg itself is used by corals to some extent in calcification.

I suppose my point is, get your mag to 1300ish, where it would be in NSW, and just keep on top of your Alk supplementation. I would suggest trying to keep your Ca+ and Alk levels somewhat closer to NSW levels (412 and 8-9, respectively), as I know that the higher you push both Ca+ and Alk, the faster your system precipitates both, and thus the more of both you have to add. Also, don't supplement Alk and Ca+ too close to each other in time. Give at least 30 minutes or so after dosing one before you dose the other. This can also help keep precipitation in check.

Take everything I just said with a grain of salt, as I do thing a little bit differently than most reefers (in terms of target values) and I really don't know how well that would work for others. I know it works fine in this tank, but I also know there are alot of other tanks out there that do just fine with much higher target values. I just don't get, never have, why the preferred targets in the hobby always seem to diverge from the values found in nature. I have been given explanations that basically center around the fact that an aquarium is a whole different beast than the reef, and certain things need to be different in order to make the corals happy. I just never bought that explanation, never will. I am, indeed, a fundamentalist in that sense.

Just my .02...

- Josh

Everyone's .02 is priceless information to me. If nothing else, this free information makes the mind rest a whole lot easier.

Izzue, your theory goes along with mine, in that the high evap rate is causing alk to deplete rapidly. My 25G, like your previous nano, has AT LEAST 3X Alk vs. Ca. And this ratio is constant.

brshriver, your primitive understanding of the relationship between Alk, Mg, and Ca is clearly beyond mine. But it sounds like everything I WANT to hear and it makes sense. Honestly, I don't think I'll spend the time doing research to prove or disprove this, but it makes me curious to find out if my Alkalinity demands slowly change as I bring up and maintain my Magnesium levels at 1300ppm. I'd rather see it with my own eyes via the test results. And thanks for the word of caution about bringing Mg up SLOWLY. I almost got a little anxious.

SPS20, I agree, I'll aim to keep my Ca down a bit. But I do get a bit nervous the closer it gets to 380 and below, so lately I've been edging on the higher side. Other than claiming that NSW is deficient in it's natural elements, I would think it senseless to debate that one should deviate much higher or lower than it's normal values. Again, it makes rational sense to match their natural habitat.

GOOD STUFF GUYS. Thanks!

A 10G "post ro/di salt water processing station" that I set up earlier today. Very simple, and it even has carbon filtration. Here I'll verify water conditions are satisfactory before adding it to my tank.

Randy, when are you coming to SJ?? oh...and whurrs my pic mister?

Hi Patty, I'd say I should be down there in less than a week or two? Why whatsup? ... and your pic's in your PM inbox

Well, i wanna get a frag of those paly's to you, i just wantcto have them ready when you come down. The more time you give me the better for them to recover. LMK k? THanks for the pic!
also been reading up the beginning of your thread, i am seriously considering changing the pump on my tank, i am most unhappy with it as i'm having to do more frequent changes after the "incident" still recouping and i feel that the pump could be of more help (not happy at all with it) How is yours working out for you?

lower your cost even more.
home made 2 part mix using dowflakes and baking soda.
don't use epsom for Mg though as people are reporting of impurities and such. Mg is cheapest through E.S.V. 1 gallon

I would have fatter pockets if I bought a year supply of 2-part ingredients from Costco. But I don't trust myself enough to brew up my own supply. Maybe when I consider myself an intermediate reefer, I'll give it a try. Right now, I use SeaChem for Mg to keep consistent with the brand, but I can already tell it's going to take a whole lot more than I've been dosing to get it up to 1300 and keep it there. I might take your advice and try the E.S.V. 1G. Thanks for the tip.

For me?!@#!??? I'll drive down there just for that. Reply with a pic if you have one and people will understand why! I think towards the end of next week I'll be meeting with a client in Los Gatos, but I'll be bouncin around to Menlo Park and then back to San Jose for drinks with some old friends. So maybe Thurs?

What size it your tank? As long as the overflow fits, the Rapids Pro will be more than enough filter for it. It's rated for 75G. It also seems to be working out well for Klarion's 15G! For me, it's performing perfectly. I love the fact that I can easily upgrade it for a new one without disrupting my ecosystem. The 3 filter compartments are large enough to put any media of your liking. Have you tried doing larger water changes more frequently instead? Try 35% to clear the nastiness out of your tank faster, but make sure all of your parameters match first, especially salinity and temp. Anyhow, let me know if I can meet you next Thursday. Late afternoon would work best for me.